So, while I would like to repeat that Oda has not confirmed that Luffy is asexual, the fact that he is often portrayed as such is something that many fans have latched onto, making him more relatable among a vast majority of heteronormative main characters. Combined with Oda’s preference for his main crew characters not to have romantic relationships, I have heard many queer fans praising Oda for making a character that they feel is part of their community and that they are happy to be able to name when listing LGBT+ characters. While Oda has made it difficult to interpret whether he means that Luffy can be sexually attracted to women, it still hasn’t stopped people from identifying him as asexual or graysexual (a term used to identify someone on the asexual spectrum who might not normally experience sexual attraction but can sometimes). But when he’s with Usopp, who’s the same age, it’s like a kid on a school trip: his bad side comes out!!” He’s interested, but he’s not entranced by her. In the SBS in Volume 54, when asked why Luffy doesn’t react to Hancock but reacted to Nami in the Alabastan baths, Oda stated that “when Luffy is alone, his reaction is what it was with Hancock. Let’s start off by talking about a character that most people don’t think about as queer: Monkey D. That’s why I want to discuss the depiction of queers in One Piece, both the highs and the lows. We want to relate to these characters, and seeing something other than a typical cishet model can be a moment of great excitement, something we rave to our fellow fans about.

This is why I, and I’m sure many others, strain to see and appreciate any and all queerness that appears in One Piece. However, in both Hollywood and foreign media, including manga and anime, often only heteronormativity is portrayed as something positive. When you are queer, as with every minority, you want to see your fellows represented in the media that you love. It is a commonplace term used now by those it describes, but not too long ago and still sometimes currently it is used as an insult, so I apologize in advance to anyone who reads this who doesn’t identify as straight, but dislikes being called queer.) Queer is an overarching term that includes those who identify LGBT+.

It’s a special day for all of us newkama, and I thought it would be a perfect time to release an editorial that I have wanted to write for a while: one that examines LGBT+ in One Piece. October 11, as some of you may know, is National Coming Out Day.

Ivan san theme one piece